A Students Encyclopedia without an apostrophe
Volume Eight beginning with German and ending with Hokusai
A porch book at the library for ten cents that I got for free
Is the first thing I see this morning where I have come home to die
Beside my bed aside my head outside where it went in before
And having read it now I wonder if I might go back for more
Of what feels right to read by night to better understand my day

Though I need to know new things as I go I never have known why
But never mind the why when by the what of curiosity
I wonder where Volume Nine is now and know what I need to look for
Now that I know how I need to know more I will keep looking to
Find where books are left behind some questions answered there in my mind
About what comes after Hokusai and what about Volume Ten
Could it still be on the porch or has it been recycled again?

And is it too late to take Volume Eight back where I got it and
Though with no dime ask the porch to accept my respects paid by rhyme?
In lieu of anything better let a penny be a letter
Let words have meaning let me be a patron of the library
Where I have come home to die as I just make an exchange this time
For what comes after Hokusai and hope someone might understand
Someday what I do not or I forgot new things I never knew

The universe for better or worse is a thing that is always new
To be and do to me and you as the lotus unfolds it holds
Lessons I learn the hard way like you do as it becomes my fate
To be or not to be by poverty to learn my thing or two
Or three or four or five to show for having made it home alive
If though to die and not know why except for now or never then
When the why of the what of Volume Eight says I am not too late

For Volume Nine a hopeful sign by which I choose to be to see
A Students Encyclopedia without an apostrophe